Listen Up

This is by far the worst sitcom, since My Mother the Car. Jason Alexander is a fine actor, but his George Costanza routine does not work outside of Seinfeld. It's grating and more embarrassing than funny. I tried to give the show a chance, but after four shows I gave up on it. It gets old, seeing the same idiotic, unbelievable behavior show after show

This is the First Monday night CBS sitcom I have refused to watch in many years. With their tradition of excellent sitcoms, it's beyond comprehension why they put this clunker between such fine shows as Still Standing, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Two And a Half Men. I prayed that the show wouldn't make it past mid-season, but my prayers weren't answered. One can only hope that somebody at CBS comes to their senses, and realizes that there is absolutely no substance to the show, and that it is "not" entertaining.

Did you ever watch the very earliest episodes of Seinfeld back in 1990? I can remember seeing them when they were new, and thinking that the show was nothing to get excited about. It improved at an almost imperceptible rate, until I eventually realized I was watching something inspired. I think this show, too, has shown gradual improvement in the quality of its scripts and the interaction of its cast. The show is really built around its star, Jason Alexander, and as an old Seinfeld fan I have a lot of good will toward Alexander and am willing to give any project of his a fair chance. Is there a certain amount of George Costanza in the role of Tony Kleinman? Undoubtedly, but it's a shtick that I still enjoy.

You can't go far wrong with Malcolm-Jamal Warner, a seasoned sitcom veteran and just plain likable guy. The interaction between him and Alexander is fun to watch, and they make a good team.

I know almost nothing about sports, and absolutely nothing about Tony Kornheiser, so that element of the project means nothing to me. To me it's not important, anyway, because as an earlier commentator pointed out, the show isn't about sports in the slightest. Although every once in a while a sports figure is trotted on to add a bit of color to the show, these scenes are just brief distractions.

I will admit, though, that the very tired sitcom stereotype of "smart wife and kids, dumb dad" is a little grating at times, and I'd appreciate it if this formula was not quite so overstressed in the show. One kink in that formula, though, is Will Rothhaar as Tony's son Mickey. This character started out as a cipher because of the scant amount of lines and screen time accorded him (the earliest plots seemed to be dominated by the relationship between Tony and his fairly obnoxious daughter). But Rothhaar, a highly experienced young actor, seems to bring a much-needed element of calm and softness amidst the more grating personalities of the other characters. The delivery of his lines are never overdone in the slightest but always note-perfect, and always get a laugh out of me. He turns what could be a cartoonish stereotype of a simple-minded slacker kid into an interesting, likable, and funny character, and I get a big kick out of the scenes where he's intimidated by his harpy sister.

I hope this show is given a chance to continue to grow and improve. I like its progress.

Every single episode that I have seen has made me laugh out loud, even when I'm at home alone watching the show. The writing is witty, charming and deals with situations that most people can relate with. The dynamics in Tony's family are well thought out as well- Jason Alexander plays a perfect Tony- who is lovable, funny, charming and a bit of the underdog- we always want to root for him. Malcolm-Jamal Warner is a perfect match for Jason. Malcolm has attitude and humor that keeps me coming back for more as well. I LOVE the flashback scenes! I love getting the insight into the life of Young Tony who seems to have experienced some pretty pathetic situations as a kid. This show is fun, clean and allows our entire family to share some great laughs without us(as parents)feeling nervous about the content that our kids might be seeing.

A TV series treatment of Sportswriter and ESPN commentator Tony Kornheiser's articles and essays is the basis for this show,which pair's Seinfeld's sharp comedic loser extraordinaire Alexander with jovial sitcom vet Malcolm Jamal Warner as very thinly disguised surrogates of Kornheiser and his co-host on ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" columnist Michael Wilbon,respectively.

There might be fertile room for comedy here,and Alexander seems a little better fit for this than the previous "Bob Patterson",but this show couldn't relay to you enough how completely out of control he was with his family. Sure,his wife(Wendy Makkena)is sweet and basically supportive,but their kids,particularly the daughter(Daniella Motta) but I suppose even the son(Will Rothar)to a lesser degree,seem to regard their dad with an unrelenting source of aggravation. To make matters worse,at work,he is almost constantly falling behind his popular co-star in terms of respect or attention. All of this may not SOUND like bad elements for the show,but the show seemed to kind of hammer away at the same note,episode after episode,and it becomes pretty tiresome in a hurry.

Not a terrible show,but could've been better.It seems like of late,other than "Duckman",he seems to be more comfortable in guest roles("Monk","Friends" to name a few). I honestly believe Mr.Alexander has a pretty good show left in him A.S.(After Seinfeld),but as of yet,I haven't seen it.

The Cubs Curse, The Red Sox Curse....and now again the Seinfeld Curse. OK, I admit it. I watch Pardon the Interruption on ESPN. Or the show with the Yelling Guys, as my wife calls it. But I watch it for the sports info. Not because Tony Kornheiser is funny. Which he's not. Although he seems to think he is. He also seems to be under the delusion that he's clever. But all he's really good at is being loud. A sitcom based on him, and the characters he's created, would seem doomed. Especially a sitcom dogged with the tired writing, cardboard characters and banal situations of Listen Up.

On one level, I can see where the casting of Jason Alexander as the Kornheiser character (similar types) makes a certain kind of sense. But, of course, that still begs the question as to whether it was worthwhile to develop this stale show in the first place. And while the character of George Costanza was often hilarious as a cog in the big Seinfeld machine, Jason Alexander, now carrying the whole load on Listen Up, is forced to trot out all his old tricks. But, in the end, all he's really good at is being loud.